Home / server / Questions / 55486
Accepted
DisgruntledGoat
Asked: 2009-08-19 04:27:20 +0800 CST

Subversion server connection problems

  • 772

I have just set up Subversion server, and test repository, on a Windows server. However I can't connect to it from any computers. Using TortoiseSVN, I get the error message:

Error: Can't connect to host '[host]': A connection attempt failed because the
Error: connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established
Error: connection failed because connected host has failed to respond.

I can connect to another SVN repository on a different server, so it's surely a problem with this server and installation.

  • The Subversion service is running and listening on port 3690.
  • I can ping the server's IP address just fine from various PCs.
  • Firewall is disabled on the server and my PC (and nothing is blocked by the router).

Any ideas why I might not be able to connect?

Update: More info as requested by AlberT:

  • netstat -a lists, among other lines, TCP GOWANPOINT:3690 GOWANPOINT:0 LISTENING
  • I'm using TortoiseSVN to connect, as noted above. I'm trying to check out the new repository I created, and connecting to: svn://[server-ip]:3690/project_name
  • Tried telnet-ing (using putty) and got a similar timeout error.
  • OS: Windows Server 2003
windows connection svn

3 Answers

  1. You should provide some additional informations, such as:

    • netstat output on the server, making clear on which port of which interface the server is listening on
    • the svn command line you are using, so that we can exclude any typo and verify the port, protocol and path you are trying to use
    • try to telnet to the server on svn port and tell us if the connection success. Possibly C&P the output
    • the OS of the server
    • try to exclude DNS problems using the server IP, not the name
    • 1
  2. Best Answer

    There is probably a firewall between the client and the server which doesn't allow to use the SVN port.

    To verify this, try to run the subversion server on port 80 (you can use netcat to create a temporary reroute).

    You can also use telnet <host> <port> to check that you can connect. In this case, you must see the connection on the server with netstat. If that doesn't work, there is definitely a firewall somewhere.

    • 1

  3. That looks like as if the Subversion server is not running. I've done that quite a few times myself. I've done this so much, that I created a page for me to look it up. I use the custom svnserve.exe server. If this is what you're using then look at the URL below for how to turn it into a Windows Service.

    http://systemwidgets.com/Support/SubversionArticles/RunningsvnserveasaWindowsService/tabid/84/Default.aspx?PageContentMode=1

    I've settled on the CollabNet binaries, as they have a nice install package for both the svnserve and Apache editions of the server.

    • 0